Common SEO Mistakes
There are many wrong numbers to optimize. Most people who call themselves an SEO Expert now finally understand that along with increased “measurability” has come increased accountability for results. As odd as it seems, the rest of the world is still catching up. Throughout my many years as an SEO consultant, here are some of the most common mistakes and traps that my clients have fallen into.
Mistake #1 - Are we ranked page one on Google for “widget” ?
Obsessing on one or two terms (usually the most desirable like “widget”) and measuring overall success of your SEO on whether or not you rank on top of page one for these…. and only these. Some real education is necessary here, especially in highly competitive industries. For example, I have often doubled traffic from search engines in 3-6 months for clients - a massive feat…(”blue widget”, “affordable widget”, “high quality widget”, etc.. yet if I did not also get to top of page one for one or two desirable terms “widget”, “widgets” - they are left feeling unsatisfied. Remember, it’s about increasing the OVERALL volume of qualified traffic to your site, and then maximizing the conversion rate.
I have often compared this to a billboard in Times Square vs. 500 Billboards along the east coast. If I could get you on 500 of those billboards for roughly 10% of the effort and cost of the Times Square Billboard, you would say yes, right?
Mistake #2 - How many impressions did we get, and what kind of click through rate? This applies more to PPC but can also be applied to Natural SEO. Impressions for Natural SEO can be estimated using any keyword analysis tool.
My answer - who cares? If we can maximize impressions to the RIGHT audience then great… if we can get a high click through rate from QUALIFIED individuals then great. Else, it simply does not matter. If you are not using conversion pixels and measuring your cost per action as related to your revenue and profitability of those actions - you are still looking at things upside down. Bottom line, how many leads, sales, or other desired actions did you get… which keywords produced the most of these, and how much is it worth to you… these are much better numbers to track.
Mistake #3 - Did the marketing effort payoff in an immediately profitable way. Ignoring Lifetime Value for web-acquired customers.
Because it’s so easy to measure Cost Per Acquisition, we expect that an SEO Expert can produce positive ROI on the first sale. So often, retailers forget - or more likely have no idea how expensive it is to acquire new customers through other channels. To test this simply apply the following equation to your business. (TOTAL 2006 NEW CUSTOMERS) / (TOTAL 2006 MARKETING BUDGET). Now, if you are using internet search engines, measure your Cost Per Acquisition on that channel. Odds are if you are in a B2C company, your internet acquisition is costing you less than half of traditional channels and in B2C - no more than 75% of traditional channels…
So the question is, really, why do you continue to market on those other channels - especially if you are LOSING MONEY on the first sale.. and perhaps needing 2 or 3 sales before you break even on a customer? It’s called LIFETIME VALUE, and the smartest web marketers are building successful campaigns on this philosophy - and often willing to pay more than companies who fear not having instant profitability.
